What we know about Roman Male Chastity and Infibulation

The evidence for Roman Male Chastity devices, and how and why they were used

From Roman Scandals, a pre-Code Hollywood Musical

Happy Christmas! As I approach the three-year milestone for (near) permanent chastity, my thoughts turn to my unfortunate brethren of days gone by, the Ancient Roman slaves who were truly trapped in permanent chastity… because, believe it or not, there is some good evidence that they and Roman male chastity devices existed.

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Get what Martial, the 1st century Roman poet wrote:

Your slave goes into the bath with you, Caelia, covered with a brass sheath (theca): to what purpose, pray, since he is not a singer to the lyre or flute? I suppose you don’t want to see his cock. Then why do you bathe in public? Are we all eunuchs in your eyes? So, to avoid appearing to grudge us, unfasten your slave’s sheath (fibula), Caelia

Martial, Epigram 11.75 (SMH)

OK, so you have to imagine this taking place in the public baths, the steamy — literally — egalitarian institution where everybody in Ancient Roman society got naked and had a good soak, a swim, a steam, a cold plunge, and a massage, possibly with a happy ending.

Think, Turkish baths meet high-end sports centre, but with more co-ed nudity and prostitution…

Wikimedia

No nudity for Caelia’s poor slave, though! He’s wearing a something called a theca or fibula.

Martial also gives us Menophilus who is not a slave. However, he’s wearing a fibula to hide his circumcision — regarded by the Romans as shameful.

So large a sheath (fibula) covers Menophilus’ penis that it would be enough by itself for all our comic actors. I had supposed (we often bathe together) that he was anxious to spare his voice, Flaccus. But while he was in a game in the middle of the sports ground with everybody watching, the sheath (fibula) slipped off the poor soul; he was circumcised.

Martial, Epigram 7.82 (SMH - for my two main sources, see Sources, below.)

What’s a fibula? (More about male infibulation than you wanted to know)

Here’s a page from obscure book by Pignorius, a 16th century antiquarian, showing his sketches of Roman “fibulae”:

Various fibulae by Pignorius.

Yes, fibula generally just means a boring old broach of the kind you use to pin a cloak. However, it can also very specifically refer to the closure device used in male infibulation.

Male infibulation is a well-documented ancient procedure. The foreskin is carefully pierced then pinned in order to induce an artificial phimosis… meaning the victim can’t withdraw his foreskin.

The end result turns the man’s foreskin into a sort of chastity device. A proper erection becomes impossible, as does sex. It also, supposedly, prevents masturbation.

For example, here are some naked Roman musicians:

Dingwall Fig 1.

The man on the right is definitely infibulated and that’s probably what a penis fibula looked like… similar to that pair of rings middle right in the Pignorius illustration:

So, normally, when classical scholars refer to infibulation and fibulae, they mean just that.

As well as being barbaric, this seems like a horrendously unhygienic practice. However, it has a long history and survived as an anti-masturbation practice well past 1900 - the Victorians were weird!

Of more interest to us, the fibula can also refer to a sheath that hid the penis.

Not only is Caelia’s slave’s genital installation referred to as both a fibula and a theca, but more tellingly a simple ring or closure wouldn’t have hidden his massive cock.

Then we have embarrassed Menophilus who was trying to hide the fact he just didn’t have a foreskin. A ring or pin wouldn’t have done him any good, because no foreskin (duh). Nor would it make sense for the poet to tease him about the size of a ring.

So, to the Romans:

a fibula is any device that keeps the penis in check.

Tertullian, the late 1st-centuy Christian author uses the term fibula as a figure of speech:

to loosen the buckle (fibula) even for voluntary offenses

Tertullian (Dingwall)

And gloating over the end of an “old” man’s sex life:

…he became sixty-year-old, and the law of Papias put a pin (fibula) on him

Tertullian. (Dingwall)

He maybe also uses it semi-literally in the same way we might refer to “getting into a woman’s knickers”:

Who does not know that the buckle (fibula) of the good man was loosened unwillingly, so that he might meet the fornicator

Tertullian. (Dingwall)

They weren’t 100% popular. From the Priapea, a collection of poems dedicated to Priapus, who’s basically the dick god:

Don't put a pin (fibula) on it

( Dingwall)

We’ll get to why shortly - it was more than about kink or keeping the victim horny - but first we want to take a closer look at the mysterious theca…